Upon entering the House of Commons in 1945, he was on the left-wing of the party. Callaghan steadily moved towards the right, but maintained his reputation as "The Keeper of the Cloth Cap" – that is he was seen as dedicated to maintaining close ties between the Labour Party and the trade unions. Callaghan's period as Chancellor of the Exchequer coincided with a turbulent period for the British economy, during which he had to wrestle with a balance of payments deficit and speculative attacks on the pound sterling (its exchange rate to other currencies was almost fixed by the Bretton Woods system). On 18 November 1967, the government devalued the pound sterling. Callaghan became Home Secretary. He sent the British Army to support the police in Northern Ireland, after a request from the Northern Ireland Government.

After Labour were defeated at the 1970 general election, Callaghan played a key role in the Shadow Cabinet. He became Foreign Secretary in 1974, taking responsibility for renegotiating the terms of the UK's membership of the European Economic Community, and supporting a "Yes" vote in the 1975 referendum to remain in the EEC. When Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, Callaghan defeated five other candidates to be elected as his replacement. Labour had already lost its narrow majority in the House of Commons by the time he became Prime Minister, and further by-election defeats and defections forced Callaghan to deal with minor parties such as the Liberal Party, particularly in the "Lib–Lab pact" from 1977 to 1978. Industrial disputes and widespread strikes in the 1978 "Winter of Discontent" made Callaghan's government unpopular, and the defeat of the referendum on devolution for Scotland led to the successful passage of a motion of no confidence on 28 March 1979. This was followed by a defeat at the ensuing general election.

Callaghan remained as Leader of the Labour Party until November 1980, to reform the process by which the party elected its leader, before returning to the backbenches where he remained until he was made a life peer as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, becoming the longest-lived British prime minister in history.

Leonard James Callaghan was born at 38 Funtington Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, England, on 27 March 1912. He took his middle name from his father, also James Callaghan (1877–1921), who was the son an Irish Catholic immigrant who had fled to England during the Irish potato famine, and a Jewish mother. James Callaghan senior had run away from home in the 1890s to join the Royal Navy, as he was a year too young to enlist, he gave a false date of birth and changed his surname from Garogher to Callaghan, so that his true identity could not be traced, he rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. His mother was Charlotte Callaghan (née Cundy; (1879–1961) an English Baptist. As the Catholic Church at the time refused to marry Catholics to members of other denominations, James Callaghan senior abandoned Catholicism and married Charlotte in a Baptist chapel. Their first child was Dorothy Gertrude Callaghan (1904–82).[1][2]

In his early years Callaghan was known as Leonard, when he entered politics in 1945 he decided to be known by his middle name James, and from then on became known as James or Jim. After his father's death in 1921, his mother was left without an income, and the family was plunged into poverty, forced to rely on charity to survive. Their financial situation was improved in 1924 when the first Labour government was elected, and introduced changes allowing Mrs Callaghan to be granted a pension, on the basis that her husband's death was partly due to war service. He attended Portsmouth Northern Secondary School (now Mayfield School). He gained the Senior Oxford Certificate in 1929, but could not afford entrance to university and instead sat the civil service Entrance Exam.[3]

At the age of 17, Callaghan left to work as a clerk for the Inland Revenue. While working as a tax inspector, Callaghan was instrumental in establishing the Association of Officers of Taxes as a trade union for those in his profession and became a member of its national executive. While at the Inland Revenue offices in Kent, in 1931, he joined the Maidstone branch of the Labour Party. In 1934, he was transferred to Inland Revenue offices in London. Following a merger of unions in 1936, Callaghan was appointed a full-time union official and to the post of Assistant Secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation and resigned from his Civil Service duties.

His union position at the Inland Revenue Federation brought Callaghan into contact with Harold Laski, the Chairman of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and an academic at the London School of Economics. Laski encouraged him to stand for Parliament, although later on he requested Callaghan several times to study and lecture at the LSE. Callaghan joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as an Ordinary Seaman in World War II from 1942 where he served in the East Indies Fleet and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in April 1944.[4] While training for his promotion, his medical examination revealed that he was suffering from tuberculosis so he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport near Portsmouth. After he recovered, he was discharged and assigned to duties with the Admiralty in Whitehall. He was assigned to the Japanese section and wrote a service manual for the Royal Navy The Enemy Japan. Callaghan would become (as of 2017) the last British prime minister to be an armed forces veteran and the only one to ever serve in the navy.

Whilst on leave, Callaghan was selected as a Parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South. He narrowly won the local party ballot with twelve votes against the next highest candidate George Thomas with eleven. He was encouraged to put his name forward for the Cardiff South seat by his friend Dai Kneath, a member of the IRSF National executive from Swansea, who was in turn an associate and friend of the local Labour Party secretary Bill Headon.[5] During 1945 he was assigned to the East Indies Fleet and served on HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Indian Ocean. After VE Day, along with other prospective candidates he returned to the United Kingdom to stand in the general election.

Labour won a landslide victory on 26 July 1945 bringing Clement Attlee to power. Callaghan won his Cardiff South seat in the 1945 UK general election (and would hold a Cardiff-area seat continuously until 1987). He defeated the sitting Conservative incumbent candidate, Sir Arthur Evans, by 17,489 votes to 11,545. He campaigned on such issues as the rapid demobilisation of the armed forces and for a new housing construction programme.[6] He stood in the left wing of the Party, and in 1945 voted against closer financial ties with the United States.[7]

Callaghan was soon appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport in 1947 where, advised by the young chief constable of Hertfordshire, Sir Arthur Young, his term saw important improvements in road safety, notably the introduction of zebra crossings, and an extension in the use of cat's eyes. He moved to be Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1950 where he was a delegate to the Council of Europe and resisted plans for a European army.

Callaghan was popular with Labour MPs and was elected to the Shadow Cabinet every year while the Labour Party was in opposition from 1951 to 1964. He was now a staunch Gaitskellite on the right wing. He was Parliamentary Adviser to the Police Federation from 1955 to 1960 when he negotiated an increase in police pay with the then general secretary Arthur Charles Evans. He ran for the Deputy Leadership of the party in 1960 as an opponent of unilateral nuclear disarmament, and despite the other candidate of the Labour right (George Brown) agreeing with him on this policy, he forced Brown to a second vote. In November 1961, Callaghan became shadow chancellor. When Hugh Gaitskell died in January 1963, Callaghan ran to succeed him, but came third in the leadership contest, which was won by Harold Wilson. However, he did gain the support of right-wingers, such as Denis Healey and Anthony Crosland, who wanted to prevent Wilson from being elected leader but who also did not trust George Brown.

In October 1964, Conservative Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home (who had only been in power for 12 months since the resignation of Harold Macmillan) called a general election. It was a tough election, but Labour won a narrow majority, gaining 56 seats (a total of 317 to the Conservatives' 304). The new Labour government under Harold Wilson immediately faced economic problems and Wilson acted within his first hours to appoint Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The new government had to cope with a balance of payments deficit and speculative attacks on Sterling. It was the policy of the whole government, and one in which Callaghan concurred, that devaluation should be avoided for as long as possible and he managed to arrange loans from other central banks and some tax rises to stabilise the economy. Callaghan's time as chancellor was to be during a time of crisis; with high inflation, high unemployment and an unstable economy with a deficit in the budget, a deficit in the balance of import and exports and most importantly conflict over the value of the pound.

On 11 November, Callaghan gave his first budget and announced increases in income tax, petrol tax and the introduction of a new capital gains tax, actions which most economists deemed necessary to take the heat out of the balance and sterling deficit. The budget also contained measures to increase the state pension, a measure which was disliked by the City and speculators, causing a run on the pound. On 23 November, it was decided to increase the bank rate from 2% to 7% which generated a large amount of criticism. Handling the crisis was made more difficult by the attitude of Lord Cromer, the Governor of the Bank of England, who argued against the fiscal policies of the new Labour government. When Callaghan and Wilson threatened to call a new general election, the governor soon raised a £3 billion loan to stabilise the reserves and the deficit.[8]

His second budget came on 6 April 1965, in which he announced efforts to deflate the economy and reduce home import demand by £250 million. Shortly afterwards, the bank rate was reduced from 7% down to 6%. For a brief time, the economy and British financial market stabilised, allowing in June for Callaghan to visit the United States and to discuss the state of the British economy with President Lyndon B. Johnson and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[9]

In July, the pound came under extreme pressure and Callaghan was forced to create harsh temporary measures to demonstrate control of the economy. These include delaying all current government building projects and postponing new pension plans. The alternative was to allow the pound to float or to devalue it. Callaghan and Wilson, however, were again adamant that a devaluation of the pound would create new social and economic problems and continued to take a firm stance against it. [10] The government continued to struggle both with the economy and with the slender majority which, by 1966, had been reduced to one. On 28 February, Harold Wilson formally announced an election for 31 March 1966. On 1 March, Callaghan gave a 'little budget' to the Commons and announced the historic decision that the UK would adopt decimal currency. It was actually not until 1971, under a Conservative government, that the United Kingdom moved from the system of pounds, shillings and pence to a decimal system of 100 pence to the pound. He also announced a short-term mortgage scheme which allowed low-wage earners to maintain mortgage schemes in the face of economic difficulties. Soon afterwards, Labour won 363 seats compared to 252 seats against the Conservatives, giving the Labour government a large majority of 97.

Callaghan introduced his next Budget on 4 May. He had informed the house that he would bring a full Budget to the House when he made his 'little budget' speech prior to the election. The main point of his budget was the introduction of a Selective Employment Tax, penalising the service industry and favouring the manufacturing industry.[11][12] Twelve days after the budget, the National Union of Seamen called a national strike and the problems facing Sterling were multiplied.[13] Additional strikes caused the balance of payments deficit to increase and the 3.3 billion loan was now due. Unemployment was also rising; it had been just over 300,000 when Labour came to power, but two years later it was climbed to more than 500,000.

On 14 July, the bank rate was increased again to seven percent. On 20 July, Callaghan announced an emergency ten-point programme with a six-month freeze on wage and salary increases. By 1967, the economy had begun to stabilise once again and the bank rate was reduced to 6% in March and 5.5% in May.

The economy was soon in turmoil again, with the Middle East crisis between Egypt and Israel raising oil prices. Furthermore, the economy was hit in mid-September when a national dock strike lasted for eight weeks. A run on Sterling began with the six-day war and with the closure of the Suez Canal and with the dock strike, the balance of payments deficit grew to a critical level. A Common Market report suggested that the pound could not be sustained as a reserve currency and it was suggested again that the pound should be devalued. Wilson and Callaghan refused a contingency fund offered from the IMF because of several conditions attached. On Wednesday 15 November, the historic decision was taken to commit the government to a 14.3% devaluation.[14] The situation was a great political controversy at the time. As Denis Healey in his autobiography, notes:

Nowadays exchange rates can swing to and fro continually by amount greater than that, without attracting much attention outside the City columns of the newspapers. It may be difficult to understand how great a political humiliation this devaluation appeared at the time—above all to Wilson and his Chancellor, Jim Callaghan, who felt he must resign over it. Callaghan's personal distress was increased by a careless answer he gave to a backbencher's question two days before the formal devaluation. This cost Britain several hundred million pounds.[15]

Before the devaluation, Jim Callaghan had announced publicly to the Press and the House of Commons that he would not devalue, something he later said was necessary to maintain confidence in the pound and avoid creating jitters in the financial markets. Callaghan immediately offered his resignation as Chancellor and increasing political opposition forced Wilson to accept it. Wilson then moved Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Callaghan became the new Home Secretary on 30 November 1967.

Callaghan's tenure as Home Secretary was marked by the emerging conflict in Northern Ireland and it was as Home Secretary that he took the decision to deploy British Army troops in the province after a request from the Ulster Unionist Government of Northern Ireland.

Callaghan was also responsible for the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968; a controversial piece of legislation prompted by Conservative assertions that an influx of Kenyan Asians would soon inundate the country. It passed through the Commons in a week and placed entry controls on holders of British passports who had "no substantial connection" with Britain by setting up a new system. In his memoirs Time and Chance, Callaghan wrote that introducing the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill had been an unwelcome task but that he did not regret it. He claimed the Asians had "discovered a loophole" and he told a BBC interviewer: "Public opinion in this country was extremely agitated, and the consideration that was in my mind was how we could preserve a proper sense of order in this country and, at the same time, do justice to these people—I had to balance both considerations". An opponent of the Act, Conservative MP Ian Gilmour, asserted that it was "brought in to keep the blacks out. If it had been the case that it was 5,000 white settlers who were coming in, the newspapers and politicians, Callaghan included, who were making all the fuss would have been quite pleased".

Also significant was the passing of the Race Relations Act in the same year, making it illegal to refuse employment, housing or education on the basis of ethnic background. The Act extended the powers of the Race Relations Board at the time, to deal with complaints of discrimination and unfair attitudes. It also set up a new supervisory body, the Community Relations Commission, to promote "harmonious community relations".[16] Presenting the Bill to Parliament, the Home Secretary, Jim Callaghan, said: "The House has rarely faced an issue of greater social significance for our country and our children."

In 1969, Callaghan, a strong supporter of the Labour–Trade Union link, led the successful opposition in a divided cabinet to Barbara Castle's White Paper "In Place of Strife" which sought to modify Trade Union law. Amongst its numerous proposals were plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and the establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes. Ironically, if the proposals had become law, many of the activities of the trades unions during the Winter of Discontent a decade later would have been illegal.

Following Wilson's unexpected defeat by Edward Heath in the 1970 General Election, Callaghan declined to challenge him for the leadership despite Wilson's vulnerability. This did much to rehabilitate him in Wilson's eyes. He was in charge of drawing up a new policy statement in 1972 which contained the idea of the Social Contract between the government and trade unions. He also did much to ensure that Labour opposed the Heath government's bid to enter the Common Market—forcing Wilson's hand by making his personal opposition clear without consulting the Party Leader.

When Wilson won the next general election and returned as Prime Minister in March 1974, he appointed Callaghan as Foreign Secretary which gave him responsibility for renegotiating the terms of the United Kingdom's membership of the Common Market. When the talks concluded, Callaghan led the Cabinet in declaring the new terms acceptable and he supported a "Yes" vote in the 1975 referendum.

Barely two years after beginning his second spell as prime minister, Wilson announced his surprise resignation on 16 March 1976, and unofficially endorsed Callaghan as his successor. Callaghan was the favourite to win the leadership election; although he was the oldest candidate, he was also the most experienced and least divisive. Popularity with all parts of the Labour movement saw him through the ballot of Labour MPs to win the leadership vote. On 5 April 1976, at the age of 64 years and 9 days, Callaghan became Prime Minister – the oldest person to become Prime Minister at time of appointment since Winston Churchill.

During his first year in office, Callaghan started what has since become known as 'The Great Debate', when he spoke at Ruskin College, Oxford about the 'legitimate concerns' of a public about education as it took place in the nation's maintained schools. This discussion led to greater involvement of the government, through its ministries, in the curriculum and administration of state education, leading to the eventual introduction of the National Curriculum some ten years later.[17] Early in his premiership he caused controversy with the appointment of Peter Jay, his then son-in-law as the British Ambassador to the United States.

Callaghan's time as Prime Minister was dominated by the troubles in running a Government with a minority in the House of Commons: he was forced to make deals with minor parties to survive – including the Lib–Lab pact, and he had been forced to accept a referendum on devolution in Scotland as well as one in Wales (the former went in favour but did not reach the required majority, and the latter went heavily against). He also became prime minister at a time when Britain was suffering from double-digit percentage inflation and rising unemployment. He responded to the economic crises by adopting deflationary policies to reduce inflation, and cutting public expenditure – a precursor to the monetarist economic policies that the next government, a Conservative one led by Margaret Thatcher, would pursue to ease the crises.[18]

Despite the economic difficulties faced by the government, over the summer of 1978 (shortly after the end of the Lib-Lab pact)[19] most opinion polls showed Labour ahead, and the expectation grew that Callaghan would call an autumn election that would have given him a second term in office until autumn 1983. The economy had also started to show signs of recovery by this time. 1978 was a year of economic recovery for Britain, with inflation falling to single digits, unemployment declining during the year, and general living standards going up by more than 8%.[20] Famously, he strung along the opposition and was expected to make his declaration of election in a broadcast on 7 September 1978.[21] His decision to put off the election, at the time, seen by many as a sign of his domination of the political scene and he ridiculed his opponents by singing old-time music hall star Vesta Victoria's song "Waiting at the Church" at that month's Trades Union Congress meeting: now seen[by whom?] as one of the greatest moments of hubris in modern British politics, but celebrated at the time. Callaghan intended to convey the message that he had not promised an election, but most observers misread his message as an assertion that he would call an election, and the Conservatives would not be ready for it.

Callaghan's method of dealing with the long-term economic difficulties involved pay restraint which had been operating for four years with reasonable success. He gambled that a fifth year would further improve the economy and allow him to be re-elected in 1979, and so attempted to hold pay rises to 5% or less. The trade unions rejected continued pay restraint and in a succession of strikes over the winter of 1978–79 (known as the Winter of Discontent) secured higher pay. The industrial unrest made his government extremely unpopular, and Callaghan's response to one interview question only made it worse. Returning to the United Kingdom from an economic summit held in Guadeloupe in early 1979, Callaghan was asked, "What is your general approach, in view of the mounting chaos in the country at the moment?" Callaghan replied, "Well, that's a judgement that you are making. I promise you that if you look at it from outside, and perhaps you're taking rather a parochial view at the moment, I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos." This reply was reported in The Sun under the headline "Crisis? What Crisis?". Callaghan also later admitted in regard to the Winter of Discontent that he had "let the country down".[22]

The Winter of Discontent saw Labour's performance in the opinion polls slump dramatically. They had topped most of the pre-winter opinion polls by several points, but in February 1979 at least one opinion poll was showing the Tories 20 points ahead of Labour and it appeared certain that Labour would lose the forthcoming election.[23]

Callaghan's failure to call an election during 1978 was widely seen as a political miscalculation; indeed, he himself later admitted that not calling an election was an error of judgement. However, private polling by the Labour Party in the autumn of 1978 had shown the two main parties with about the same level of support.[26] After losing power in 1979, Labour would spend the next 18 years in opposition.[27]

Historians Alan Sked and Chris Cook have summarised the general consensus of historians regarding Labour in power in the 1970s:

If Wilson's record as prime minister was soon felt to have been one of failure, that sense of failure was powerfully reinforced by Callaghan's term as premier. Labour, it seemed, was incapable of positive achievements. It was unable to control inflation, unable to control the unions, unable to solve the Irish problem, unable to solve the Rhodesian question, unable to secure its proposals for Welsh and Scottish devolution, unable to reach a popular modus vivendi with the Common Market, unable even to maintain itself in power until it could go to the country and the date of its own choosing. It was little wonder, therefore, that Mrs Thatcher resoundingly defeated it in 1979.[28]

Notwithstanding electoral defeat, Callaghan stayed on as Labour leader until 15 October 1980, shortly after the party conference had voted for a new system of election by electoral college involving the individual members and trade unions. His resignation ensured that his successor would be elected by MPs only. After a campaign that laid bare the deep internal divisions of the parliamentary Labour Party, Michael Foot narrowly defeated Denis Healey on 10 November in the second round of the election to succeed Callaghan as party leader. Foot had been a relatively late entrant to the contest and his decision to stand ended the chances of Peter Shore.

In 1983, he attacked Labour's plans to reduce defence,[29][30] and the same year became Father of the House as the longest continually-serving member of the Commons.

In 1987, he was made a Knight of the Garter and stood down at the 1987 general election after 42 years as an MP. Shortly afterwards, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, of the City of Cardiff in the Royal County of South Glamorganshire. In 1987, his autobiography, Time and Chance, was published. He also served as a non-executive director of the Bank of Wales.

His wife, Audrey, a former chairman (1969–82) of Great Ormond Street Hospital, spotted a letter to a newspaper which pointed out that the copyright of Peter Pan, which had been assigned by J. M. Barrie to the hospital, was going to expire at the end of that year, 1987 (50 years after Barrie's death, the current copyright term). In 1988, Callaghan moved an amendment to the Copyright Designs & Patents Act, then under consideration in the House of Lords, to grant the hospital a right to royalty in perpetuity despite the lapse of copyright, and it was passed by the government.

Tony Benn recorded in his diary entry of 3 April 1997 that during the 1997 general election campaign, Callaghan was telephoned by a volunteer at Labour headquarters asking him if he would be willing to become more active in the party. According to Benn:

One young woman in her mid-twenties rang up Jim Callaghan and said to him on the phone, "Have you ever thought of being a bit more active in politics?" So Callaghan said, "Well I was a Labour Prime Minister – what more could I do?"

During an interview broadcast on the BBC 4 radio programme The Human Button, Callaghan became the only Prime Minister to go on record with his opinion on ordering a retaliation in the event of a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom:

If it were to become necessary or vital, it would have meant the deterrent had failed, because the value of the nuclear weapon is frankly only as a deterrent," he said. "But if we had got to that point, where it was, I felt, necessary to do it, then I would have done it. I've had terrible doubts, of course, about this. I say to you, if I had lived after having pressed that button, I could never, ever have forgiven myself.

In October 1999, Callaghan told The Oldie Magazine that he would not be surprised to be considered as Britain's worst Prime Minister in 200 years. He also admitted in this interview that he "must carry the can" for the Winter of Discontent.[31]

Callaghan's interests included rugby (he played lock for Streatham RFC before the Second World War), tennis and agriculture. He married Audrey Elizabeth Moulton, whom he had met when they both worked as Sunday School teachers at the local Baptist church,[32] in July 1938 and had three children – one son and two daughters.

Although there is much doubt about how much belief Callaghan retained into adult life, the Baptist nonconformist ethic was a profound influence throughout all of his public and private life. According to InfoBritain, Callaghan slowly became an atheist while working with the Inland Revenue union.[33]

One of his final public appearances came on 29 April 2002, when shortly after his 90th birthday, he sat alongside the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and three other surviving former Prime Ministers at the time at Buckingham Palace for a dinner which formed part of the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, alongside his daughter Margaret, Baroness Jay, who had served as Leader of the House of Lords from 1998-2001.[34]

After four decades, the historiography on him is still contested territory. The left wing of the Labour Party considers him a traitor whose betrayals of true socialism laid the foundations for Thatcherism.[36] They point to his decision in 1976 to allow the International Monetary Fund to control the government budget. They accuse him of abandoning the traditional Labour commitment to full employment. They blame his rigorous pursuit of a policy of controlling income growth for the "Winter of Discontent".[37] Writers on the right of the Labour Party complained that he was a weak leader who was unable to stand up to the left.[38] The "New Labour" writers who admire Tony Blair identify him with the old-style partisanship that was a dead end, which a new generation of modernisers had to repudiate.[39] Practically all commentators agree that Callaghan made a serious mistake by not calling an election in the autumn of 1978. Bernard Donoughue, a senior official in his government, depicts Callaghan as a strong and efficient administrator who stood heads above his predecessor Harold Wilson.[40] The standard scholarly biography by Kenneth Morgan is generally favourable – at least for the middle of his premiership – while admitting failures at the beginning, at the end, and in his leadership role after Thatcher's victory. The treatment found in most textbooks and surveys of the period remains largely negative.[41]

A Sea-Dragon sejant Gules, langued and scaled Or, its tail Or, scaled Gules, the dorsal fin Gules, gorged with a Mural Crown Or, masoned Gules, supporting to the front with the fin of the dexter foreleg a Portcullis Or.

Escutcheon

Quarterly Vert and Azure, in the former a portcullis chained Or, in the latter a lymphad with an anchor at its prow and masted also Or, the sail set Argent, and pennants flying Gules, over all a fess Or, to the sinister thereof a grassy mount thereon a hurst of oak trees and issuing therefrom passant to the dexter a wolf, all proper.

1.
Knight of the Order of the Garter
–
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry and the third most prestigious honour in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George and it is awarded at the Sovereigns pleasure as a personal gift on recipients from the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. Membership of the Order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, the order also includes supernumerary knights and ladies. New appointments to the Order of the Garter are always announced on St Georges Day, the orders emblem is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense in gold lettering. Members of the wear it on ceremonial occasions. King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter around the time of his claim to the French throne, the list includes Sir Sanchet DAbrichecourt, who died on 20 October 1345. Other dates from 1344 to 1351 have also been proposed, the Kings wardrobe account shows Garter habits first issued in the autumn of 1348. Also, its original statutes required that member of the Order already be a knight. The earliest written mention of the Order is found in Tirant lo Blanch and it was first published in 1490. This book devotes a chapter to the description of the origin of the Order of the Garter, at the time of its foundation, the Order consisted of King Edward III, together with 25 Founder Knights, listed in ascending order of stall number in St.1431. Various legends account for the origin of the Order, the most popular legend involves the Countess of Salisbury, whose garter is said to have slipped from her leg while she was dancing at a court ball at Calais. When the surrounding courtiers sniggered, the king picked it up and returned it to her, exclaiming, Honi soit qui mal y pense, King Edward supposedly recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order. This story is recounted in a letter to the Annual Register in 1774, The motto in fact refers to Edwards claim to the French throne, the use of the garter as an emblem may have derived from straps used to fasten armour. Medieval scholars have pointed to a connection between the Order of the Garter and the Middle English poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in Gawain, a girdle, very similar in its erotic undertones to the garter, plays a prominent role. A rough version of the Orders motto also appears in the text and it translates from Old French as Accursed be a cowardly and covetous heart. While the author of that poem remains disputed, there seems to be a connection between two of the top candidates and the Order of the Garter. Scholar J. P. Oakden has suggested that it is related to John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and, more importantly. Another competing theory is that the work was written for Enguerrand de Coucy, the Sire de Coucy was married to King Edward IIIs daughter, Isabella, and was given admittance to the Order of the Garter on their wedding day

2.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
–
Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé

3.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign

4.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession

5.
Harold Wilson
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, in 1969 Wilson sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 general election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 general election resulted in a hung parliament. A period of crisis was now beginning to hit most Western countries. He took little action to pursue the Labour Party constitutions stated dedication to such nationalisation, Labour Party historians see his years in office as lost opportunities for major reforms. However, in keeping with the mood of the 1960s his government sponsored liberal changes in a number of social areas and his stated ambition of substantially improving Britains long-term economic performance remained largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second government 1974–76 and accomplished little as the split over Europe. Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and he came from a political family, his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage, and her brother, when Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He was a supporter of his football club, Huddersfield Town. Wilson won a scholarship to attend Royds Hall Grammar School, his grammar school in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. In December 1930, his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and he moved to Spital on the Wirral, Cheshire in order to do so. Wilson was educated in the Sixth Form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, at Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by G. D. H. Cole. He graduated in PPE with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper in the examinations. Biographer Roy Jenkins says, Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, and no one else. What he was superb at was the assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind. He continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford dons of the century at the age of 21 and he was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College

6.
Margaret Thatcher
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She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her The Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics, as Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. A research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959, Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and she became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies and she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 1984. Thatcher was re-elected for a term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge was widely unpopular and she resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a peerage as Baroness Thatcher which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. After a series of strokes in 2002, she was advised to withdraw from public speaking. Despite this, she managed to pre-record a eulogy to Ronald Reagan prior to his death, in 2013, she died of another stroke in London, at the age of 87. Always a controversial figure, she has described as one of the greatest and most influential politicians in British history. Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13 October 1925, in Grantham and her father was Alfred Roberts, originally from Northamptonshire, and her mother was Beatrice Ethel from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned two grocery shops, Prior to the Second World War, in 1938 the Roberts family gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany. Thatcher was to describe this in her memoirs as among the significant events of her formative years, Alfred Roberts was an alderman and a Methodist local preacher, and brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church. He came from a Liberal family but stood as an Independent and he was Mayor of Grantham in 1945–46 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Margaret Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement, her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43, in her upper sixth year she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, but she was initially rejected and was offered a place only after another candidate withdrew. Her dissertation was on the structure of the antibiotic gramicidin, even while working on chemistry, she was already thinking towards law and politics

7.
Father of the House
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Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, the term Mother of the House or Mother of Parliament is also found, although the usage varies between countries. It is used simply as the alternative to Father of the House. The Father of the House is a title that is by tradition bestowed on the member of the House of Commons who has the longest unbroken service. If two or more members have the length of current uninterrupted service, then whoever was sworn in earliest. In the House of Commons, the only conventional leadership required of the Father of the House is to preside over the election of a new Speaker whenever that office becomes vacant. The relevant Standing Order does not refer to this member by the title of Father of the House, the current Father of the House of Commons is Kenneth Clarke, Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, who began his continuous service at the 1970 general election. Dennis Skinner, Labour MP for Bolsover, also began service at the 1970 general election. Should Clarkes service conclude before Skinners, Skinner would be next in line to serve as Father of the House, however Skinner has stated he would refuse. Michael Foot was the remaining member from the 1945 election between 1987 and 1992, but was never Father of the House because he had been out of Parliament between 1955 and a 1960 by-election. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was simultaneously Father of the House and Prime Minister from May 1907 until shortly before his death in April 1908. The current Father of the House of Lords is Lord Carrington, after the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, Carrington was given a life peerage to enable him to continue to sit. Should Carrington cease to be a Member of the House of Lords, Lord Denham who sat first on 13 December 1949 and he is a hereditary peer who was elected to remain in the House under the provisions of the 1999 Act. The senior sitting life peer by date of creation is Baroness Masham of Ilton, the Parliament of Northern Ireland, including the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, was prorogued in 1972 and abolished completely in 1973 leaving the title of Father of the House defunct. In Australia, the current member of the House of Representatives with the longest period of continuous service, similarly, the current member of the Senate with the longest period of continuous service is known as Father of the Senate. The longer serving of the two Fathers is called Father of the Parliament, as in Britain, these terms have no official status. Where two or more members have equal length of service, more than any other members. Some state parliaments, however, follow the British convention of giving precedence by order of swearing into office, the Father of the House and the Father of the Senate in Australia have no parliamentary role at all

8.
Bernard Braine
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Bernard Richard Braine, Baron Braine of Wheatley, PC was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament for over forty years, representing constituencies in Essex and he was educated at Hendon County Grammar School, and served with the North Staffordshire Regiment in the Second World War, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Having stood unsuccessfully for Leyton East in 1945, Braine was elected as MP for Billericay at the 1950 general election and he was chairman of the National Council on Alcoholism, and was a member of the Parliamentary Groups on Human Rights and against abortion. For many years he served as an ambassador of HMs government to the Polish Government-in-Exile in London. He was knighted in the 1972 New Year Honours, and appointed as a Privy Counsellor in 1985. Braine stepped down from Parliament at the 1992 general election, and in August that year he was made a life peer Baron Braine of Wheatley and he died in January 2000 at the age of 85. Leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Bernard Braine

9.
Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)
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The Leader of Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in the United Kingdom. The current Leader of the Opposition is Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, the Leader of the Opposition is normally viewed as an alternative prime minister, and is appointed to the Privy Council. They lead an Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet which scrutinises the actions of the Cabinet led by the prime minister, There is also a Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. In the nineteenth century party affiliations were generally fixed and leaders in the two Houses were often of equal status. A single, clear Leader of the Opposition was only definitively settled if the leader in Commons or Lords was the outgoing prime minister. However, since the Parliament Act 1911 there has been no dispute that the leader in the House of Commons is pre-eminent, the Leader of the Opposition is entitled to a salary in addition to their salary as a Member of Parliament. In 2010, this additional entitlement was available up to £73,617, the first modern Leader of the Opposition was Charles James Fox, who led the Whigs as such for a generation, except during the Fox–North Coalition in 1783. He finally rejoined the government in 1806, and died later that year, for there to be a recognised Leader of the Opposition, it is necessary for there to be a sufficiently cohesive opposition to need a formal leader. The emergence of the office coincided with the period when wholly united parties became the norm. This situation was normalised in the Parliament of 1807–1812, when the members of the Grenvillite and Foxite Whig factions resolved to maintain a joint, dual-house leadership for the whole party. The Ministry of all the Talents, in which both Whig factions participated fell at the 1807 general election, during which the Whigs had re-adopted traditional factions, the prime minister of the Talents ministry, Lord Grenville had led his eponymous faction from the House of Lords. Meanwhile, the government leader of the House of Commons, Viscount Howick, led his faction, howicks father, the 1st Earl Grey died on 14 November 1807. As such the new Earl Grey vacated his seat in the House of Commons and this left no obvious Whig leader in the House of Commons. Grenvilles article in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that he was considered the Whig leader in the House of Lords between 1807 and 1817, despite Grey leading the larger faction. Grenville and Grey, political historian Archibald Foord describes as being duumvirs of the party from 1807 to 1817, Grenville was at first reluctant to name a Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, commenting. All the elections in the world would not have made Windham or Sheridan leaders of the old Opposition while Fox was alive, eventually they jointly recommended George Ponsonby to the Whig MPs, whom they accepted as the first Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. Ponsonby proved a leader but as he could not be persuaded to resign. Lord Grenville retired from politics in 1817, leaving Grey as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords

10.
Michael Foot
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Michael Mackintosh Foot PC FRSL was a British Labour Party politician and man of letters. Foot began his career as a journalist, becoming editor of Tribune on several occasions, and he co-wrote the classic polemic against appeasement of Hitler, Guilty Men, under a pseudonym. Foot became a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and served again from 1960 until 1992 and he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Employment under Harold Wilson in 1974, and he later served as Leader of the House of Commons under James Callaghan. He was also Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under Callaghan from 1976 to 1980, Foot was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. His strongly left-wing political positions and criticisms of vacillating leadership made him an unpopular leader, not particularly telegenic, he was also nicknamed Worzel Gummidge for his rumpled appearance. A right-wing faction of the party broke away to form the Social Democratic Party, among the books he authored are Guilty Men, a biography of Jonathan Swift and a biography of Aneurin Bevan. Foot was born in Lipson Terrace, Plymouth, Devon, the fifth of seven children of Isaac Foot and Eva, Isaac Foot was a solicitor and founder of the Plymouth law firm Foot and Bowden. Isaac Foot was an member of the Liberal Party and was Liberal Member of Parliament for Bodmin in Cornwall from 1922–24 and again from 1929–35. He was the uncle of campaigning journalist Paul Foot and charity worker Oliver Foot, Foot was educated at Plymouth College Preparatory School, Forres School in Swanage, and Leighton Park School in Reading. When he left Forres School, the headmaster sent a letter to his father in which he said “he has been the boy in the school in every way”. He then went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Wadham College, Foot was the President of the Oxford Union. He also took part in the ESU USA Tour, on graduating with a second-class degree in 1934, he took a job as a shipping clerk in Birkenhead. Foot was profoundly influenced by the poverty and unemployment that he witnessed in Liverpool, a Liberal up to this time, Foot was converted to socialism by Oxford University Labour Club president David Lewis, a Canadian Rhodes scholar, and others. I knew him when I was a Liberal played a part in converting me to socialism, Foot joined the Labour Party and first stood for parliament at the age of 22 in the 1935 general election, when he contested Monmouth. During this election Foot criticised the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, in his election address Foot contended that the armaments race in Europe must be stopped now. Foot also supported unilateral disarmament, after multilateral disarmament talks at Geneva had broken down in 1933, the campaigns members were Stafford Crippss Socialist League, the Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain. In a 1955 interview, Foot ideologically identified as a libertarian socialist, on the recommendation of Aneurin Bevan, Foot was soon hired by Lord Beaverbrook to work as a writer on his Evening Standard. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Foot volunteered for military service and it was suggested in 2011 that he became a member of the secret Auxiliary Units

11.
Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
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The Leader of the Labour Party is the most senior politician within the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Since 12 September 2015, the office has held by Jeremy Corbyn. Harriet Harman was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and also Acting Leader since the resignation of Ed Miliband on 8 May 2015 following the 2015 general election, on 12 September 2015, she was replaced by Jeremy Corbyn, who won the Labour leadership election. Tom Watson is now the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, corbyns leadership was under challenge in mid 2016, but he was again elected in the subsequent leadership election. The post of Leader of the Labour Party was officially created in 1922, before this time, between when Labour MPs were first elected in 1906 and the election in 1922, when substantial gains were made, the post was known as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. In 1921, John Robert Clynes became the first Leader of the Labour Party to be born in England, prior to this, in 1924, Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority administration. Clement Attlee would become the first Leader to lead a majority government in 1945, the first to be born in Wales was Neil Kinnock, who was elected in 1983. Unlike other British political party leaders, the Labour Leader does not have the power to dismiss or appoint their Deputy, both the Leader and Deputy Leader are elected by an Alternative Vote system. The 2015 leadership election used a one member, one vote system, MPs and MEPs votes are not counted separately, although a candidate needs to receive the support of 15% of Labour MPs in order to appear on the ballot. When the Labour Party is in Opposition, as it currently is, the Leader of the Labour Party usually acts as the Leader of the Opposition, a list of leaders since 1906. George Brown and Margaret Beckett acted as leader following deaths of Hugh Gaitskell and John Smith, harriet Harman acted as leader twice when Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband resigned. However, Neil Kinnock was also elevated to the House of Lords, despite never being Prime Minister, and Michael Foot declined a similar offer

12.
Alec Douglas-Home
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Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from 19 October 1963 to 16 October 1964. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as the UKs foreign secretary than on his brief premiership, in 1940, he was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and was immobilised for two years. By the later stages of the war he had recovered enough to resume his political career, under the premierships of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan he was appointed to a series of increasingly senior posts, including Leader of the House of Lords and Foreign Secretary. In October 1963, Macmillan was taken ill and resigned as Prime Minister, Home was chosen to succeed him. The manner of his appointment was controversial, and two of Macmillans cabinet ministers refused to take office under him, as Prime Minister Douglas-Homes demeanor and appearance remained aristocratic and old-fashioned. His understanding of economics was primitive, and he gave his chancellor Reginald Maudling free reign to handle financial affairs, Douglas-Homes domestic proposals were not notable and he gained little credit. He enjoyed dealing with policy, but there were no major crises or issues to resolve. His Foreign Minister Rab Butler was not especially energetic, Britains application to join Europe had already been vetoed by De Gaulle, the Cuban missile crisis had been resolved, and Berlin was again on the back burner. Decolonization issues were largely routine, and the Rhodesia and South African crises lay in the future, Homes premiership was the second briefest of the twentieth century, lasting two days short of a year. Among the legislation passed under his government was the abolition of resale price maintenance, bringing costs down for the consumer against the interests of producers of food and other commodities. After narrow defeat in the election of 1964, Douglas-Home resigned the leadership of his party, having instituted a new. After the defeat of the Heath government in 1974 he returned to the House of Lords as a life peer, Douglas-Home was born in Mayfair, London, the first of seven children of Lord Dunglass and his wife, the Lady Lilian Lambton. The boys first name was abbreviated to Alec. Among the couples children was the playwright William Douglas-Home. In 1918 the 12th Earl of Home died, Dunglass succeeded him in the earldom, and the title passed to Alec Douglas-Home. The young Lord Dunglass was educated at Ludgrove School, followed by Eton College, in the 18th century he would have become Prime Minister before he was 30. As it was, he appeared honourably ineligible for the struggle of life, after Eton, Dunglass went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a third-class honours BA degree in modern history in 1925. In addition to representing Eton at Fives, he was a cricketer at school, club and county level

13.
Anthony Crosland
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Charles Anthony Raven Crosland, otherwise Tony Crosland or C. A. R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author and he served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby. A prominent socialist intellectual, he one of the Labour Partys revisionists on the right. His highly influential book The Future of Socialism argued against many Marxist notions and he offered positive alternatives to both right and left wings of his Labour Party. He downplayed public ownership of the means of production – the classic socialist formulation – and argued instead for making the highest priority the end of poverty and he led the Labour battle to replace grammar schools with comprehensive schools that did not sort students at age 11. As foreign secretary he promoted détente with the Soviet Union, Crosland was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. His father, Joseph Beardsall Crosland, was an official at the War Office. Both his parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren and his maternal grandfather was Frederick Edward Raven, founder of the Raven Exclusive Brethren and secretary of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He grew up in North London and was educated at Highgate School and at Trinity College and he then became an Oxford University don tutoring Economics. Notable names Crosland taught at Oxford were Tony Benn, Norris McWhirter, Crosland, who had been talent-spotted by Hugh Dalton, was chosen as a Labour candidate in December 1949 to fight the next general election. He entered Parliament at the February 1950 general election, being returned for the South Gloucestershire constituency and he held that seat until the 1955 general election, when he was defeated at Southampton Test. Crosland returned to the House of Commons at the 1959 general election when he was elected for Grimsby and he was, like Roy Jenkins and Denis Healey, a friend and protégé of Hugh Gaitskell, and together they were regarded as the modernisers of their day. Just over two years earlier Wilson had challenged Gaitskell for the party leadership, Crosland nominated and voted for James Callaghan in the leadership contest caused by Gaitskells death on 18 January 1963. He rationalised his decision to back Callaghan on the basis that We have to choose between a crook and a drunk, however, Callaghan was eliminated after obtaining 41 votes, the margin in votes between Wilson and Brown in the final ballot. Wilson won by 144 votes to Browns 103 on 14 February 1963, although critical of Harold Wilson, Crosland was angry with Wilson for challenging Gaitskell in 1960 for the party leadership, Crosland respected him as a political operator. Under Wilson, Crosland was first appointed Browns deputy in October 1964, in November 1964 Crosland and Brown told Wilson and Callaghan that ruling out devaluation was a mistake in the face of the economic crisis then under way. However, Crosland was not Browns deputy for long, on 22 January 1965 Wilson appointed Crosland Secretary of State for Education and Science. Croslands crusade was a success—it was popular local government, by 1979 over 90% of the students were in comprehensive schools

14.
Denis Healey
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He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years and was the last surviving member of the cabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Partys victory in the 1964 general election. A major figure in the party, he was defeated in bids for the party leadership. To the public at large, Healey became well known for his bushy eyebrows, Denis Winston Healey was born in Mottingham, Kent, but moved with his family to Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire when he was aged five. His parents were Winifred Mary and William Healey and his middle name was in honour of Winston Churchill. Healey was one of two siblings and his father was an engineer who worked his way up from humble origins, studying at night school and eventually becoming head of a trade school. His paternal grandfather was a tailor from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, early Healey was educated at Bradford Grammar School. In 1936, he won a scholarship to Balliol College. He there became involved in Labour politics, although he was not active in the Oxford Union Society, also while at Oxford, Healey joined the Communist Party in 1937 during the Great Purge, but left in 1940 after the Fall of France. At Oxford, Healey met future Prime Minister Edward Heath, whom he succeeded as president of Balliol College Junior Common Room, Healey achieved a double first degree, awarded in 1940. After graduation, Healey served in the Second World War as a gunner in the Royal Artillery but was commissioned as a lieutenant in April 1941. He was made an MBE in 1945 and he left the service with the rank of major. He became secretary of the department of the Labour Party, becoming a foreign policy adviser to Labour leaders. He was an opponent of the Communist Party at home. From 1948 to 1960 he was a councillor for the Royal Institute of International Affairs and he was a member of the Fabian Society executive from 1954 until 1961. Healey met Hans von Herwarth, the ex soldier Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, the conference also included other leading British decisionmakers like Richard Crossman and the journalist Robin Day. Healey was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Leeds South East at a by-election in February 1952, following constituency boundary changes, he was elected for Leeds East at the 1955 general election, holding that seat until he retired as an MP in 1992. He was a moderate on the right during the series of splits in the Labour Party in the 1950s and he was a supporter and friend of Hugh Gaitskell. He persuaded Gaitskell to temper his support for British military action in 1956 when the Suez Canal was seized by the Nasser regime in Egypt

15.
Geoffrey Rippon
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Aubrey Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, QC was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group and he was called to the Bar in 1948 and was Mayor of Surbiton 1951–52 and a member of the London County Council from 1952. After unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury in both 1950 and 1951, he became MP for Norwich South in 1955, after campaign led by the Victorian Society and a public outcry the decision was overturned and the building was subsequently granted Grade 1 listed building status. In 1964 Rippon was defeated, but moved to the constituency of Hexham in Northumberland at the 1966 general election, among his posts in the Shadow Cabinet was that of Shadow Defence Secretary from 1969 to 1970. In 1970 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under Edward Heath, in 1972 he moved to become Secretary of State for the Environment. During his tenure the Department of the Environment was housed on Marsham Street in tower blocks of appalling ugliness, Rippon is supposed to have commented to his civil servants that the view from the top floor was the best in London, as one could not see the towers themselves. He was at one time a prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club, for whom he authored a booklet entitled Right Angle, and was guest-of-honour at their Annual Dinner in 1970. The Club was, however, divided on the EEC issue, from 1979 to 1982, Rippon was President of the European Documentation and Information Centre. He was created a peer on 5 October 1987 taking the title Baron Rippon of Hexham. Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club – The First Decade, Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Geoffrey Rippon

16.
Barbara Castle
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She later became the Member of the European Parliament for Greater Manchester from 1979 to 1989. The youngest of three children, she was born in Chesterfield to Frank and Annie Betts, and was brought up in Pontefract, Castle was first introduced to socialist politics and beliefs from a young age, growing up in a politically active home. Her older sister, Marjorie, later became a pioneer of the Inner London Education Authority and she joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Her father was a tax inspector, exempt from service in the First World War due to his high rank in a reserved occupation. It was because of the nature of the profession, and the different promotions he received. Having moved to Bradford in 1922, the Betts family swiftly became involved with the Independent Labour Party, Castles mother ran the family home, while also operating a soup-kitchen for the towns miners. After Barbara had left home, Annie was elected as a Labour Councillor in Bradford, Castle attended Love Lane Elementary School, later going to Pontefract and District Girls High School. After moving to Bradford at the age of twelve, she then attended Bradford Girls Grammar School and she became involved in dramatics at the school, and it was there that she first developed oratory skills. She excelled academically, winning awards for performance from the school. She organised mock elections at the school, in which she stood as the Labour candidate, there were some elements of the school which she did not like, notably her perception that many of the girls were from rich families. Despite this, in her last year at the school she was appointed Head Girl and her further education continued at St Hughs College, Oxford, from which she graduated with a Third-Class BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Castle began serious political activity at Oxford, serving as the Treasurer of the Oxford University Labour Club, finding her time at university difficult in many respects, she struggled to accept the atmosphere of an institution which had only recently begun to challenge sexist attitudes. She was scornful of the elitist nature of elements of the institution. She was elected to St Pancras Borough Council in 1937, and she was a senior administrative officer at the Ministry of Food and an ARP warden during the Blitz. She became a reporter on Tribune, where she had a relationship with William Mellor. Following her marriage to Ted Castle in 1944, Castle became the correspondent at the Daily Mirror. She soon achieved a reputation as a left-winger and a rousing speaker, during the 1950s she was a high-profile Bevanite and made a name for herself as a vocal advocate of decolonisation and the Anti-Apartheid Movement. In the Wilson Government of 1964–1970, she held a succession of ministerial posts, as Minister of Transport, she introduced the breathalyser to combat the then recently acknowledged crisis of drink-driving, and also made permanent the 70 mph speed limit

17.
Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone
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He was considered for the leadership of his party in 1963, and held for more than a decade the office formerly held by his father, that of Lord Chancellor. He became a Prize Fellow of All Souls in 1931, although originally he read classics, he won his prize fellowship in law and was called to the bar in 1932. He spoke in opposition to the motion That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and his favourite hobby was mountain-climbing, and his ankles were broken so many times that in old age he was able to walk only with two canes. Hogg participated in his first election campaign in the 1924 general election, in 1938, Hogg was chosen as a candidate for Parliament in the Oxford by-election. Hogg narrowly defeated Lindsay, who was said to be horrified by the slogan of Hitler wants Hogg. Hogg voted against Neville Chamberlain in the Norway Debate of May 1940 and he served briefly in the desert campaign as a platoon commander with the Rifle Brigade during the Second World War. His commanding officer had been his contemporary at Eton, after him, in the run-up to the 1945 election, Hogg wrote a response to the book Guilty Men, called The Left was never Right. Hoggs father died in 1950 and Hogg entered the House of Lords as the 2nd Viscount Hailsham. Believing his political career to be over he concentrated on the bar for some years, becoming head of his chambers and he became First Lord of the Admiralty under Eden in 1956, and under Macmillan was chairman of the party and campaign organiser for the 1959 general election. Hogg appeared before the Wolfenden Committee to discuss homosexuality, the historian Patrick Higgins said that he used it as an opportunity to express his disgust. He stated The instinct of mankind to describe acts as unnatural is not based on mere prejudice and that homosexuals were corrupting. In June 1963 when his fellow Minister John Profumo had to resign after admitting telling lies to Parliament about his private life, Sir Reginald Paget called this a virtuoso performance of the art of kicking a friend in the guts. He added, When self-indulgence has reduced a man to the shape of Lord Hailsham and he was Leader of the House of Lords when Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister, announced his sudden resignation for health reasons at the start of the 1963 Conservative Party conference. At that time there was no ballot for the Conservative Party leadership. Hailsham, who was at first Macmillans preferred successor, announced that he would use the newly enacted Peerage Act to disclaim his title and fight a by-election and return to the House of Commons. His publicity-seeking antics at the Party Conference were considered vulgar at the time, Hogg failed to win the leadership bid but did win his fathers old constituency of St Marylebone. Hogg as a campaigner was known for his robust rhetoric and theatrical gestures and he was renowned as one of the great Conservative speakers, his addresses to the party as chairman in 1958 and 1959 were remembered for decades afterwards. He was usually in form in dealing with hecklers, a valuable skill in the 1960s

18.
Shirley Williams
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Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, CH, PC is a British politician and academic who represents the Liberal Democrats. Originally a Labour Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, she was one of the Gang of Four rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981. Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and, from 2007 to 2010, born in Chelsea, London, Williams was the daughter of political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin and the feminist and pacifist writer Vera Brittain. During the Second World War, she was evacuated to Minnesota in the United States for three years, in 1950, she became the first woman to chair the Oxford University Labour Club. After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Williams was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, on returning to Britain, she began her career as a journalist, working firstly for the Daily Mirror and then for the Financial Times. In 1960, she became General Secretary of the Fabian Society, in government, she rose quickly to a junior ministerial position and, between 1971 and 1973, served as Shadow Home Secretary. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in Harold Wilsons cabinet, when Wilson was succeeded by James Callaghan in 1976, she became Secretary of State for Education and Paymaster General, holding both cabinet positions at the same time. While in office between 1976 and 1979, Williams advocated the comprehensive system and the abolition of grammar schools. In June 2012, she cited comprehensive schools as her greatest achievement, stating, I have never in any way regretted them, the problem was that in many places they were heavily skimmed because people kept grammar schools in place beside them. As her daughter Rebecca approached secondary school age, Williams moved into the catchment area of the state-subsidised Godolphin and Latymer School, Williams lost her seat when the Labour Party was defeated in the 1979 general election. Her defeat was one of the most prominent of the election, since then, she has appeared on many television and radio discussion programmes in Britain – in particular, the BBCs Question Time, where she has made more appearances than anyone else. They were joined by 28 other Labour MPs and one Conservative, later that year, following the death of the Conservative MP Sir Graham Page, she won the Crosby by-election and became the first SDP member elected to Parliament. Two years later, however, having become the SDPs President, in the 1987 general election, Williams stood for the SDP in Cambridge, but lost to the sitting Conservative candidate Robert Rhodes James. She then supported the SDPs merger with the Liberal Party that formed the Liberal Democrats, nonetheless, she remained active in politics and public service in Britain, the United States and internationally. During these years, Williams helped draft constitutions in Russia, Ukraine, upon Shirley Williams elevation to the House of Lords in 1993, she returned to the United Kingdom and continued a more public life, but has maintained a close association with Harvard University. Baroness Williams remained a member of the House of Lords. Williams served as United Nations Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia, Williams was also an attendee of the 2013 and the 2010 Bilderberg conferences in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, and Sitges, Spain, respectively. Her interest and commitment to education continued, and she served as Chair of Judges of the British Teaching Awards, Williams was a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009

19.
Home Secretary
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The office is a British Cabinet level position. The Home Secretary is responsible for the affairs of England and Wales. The remit of the Home Office also includes policing in England and Wales and matters of security, as the Security Service. The current Home Secretary is Amber Rudd, appointed formally by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her Prime Minister Theresa May on 13 July 2016. Mrs. May had been the incumbent, appointed on 12 May 2010 by Prime Minister, David Cameron. May was reappointed by Cameron on 8 May 2015 to serve as Home Secretary in the Conservative government and she stood down from this role on 13 July 2016 upon assuming the office of Prime Minister, succeeding Cameron

20.
Roy Jenkins
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Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC was a British Labour Party, SDP and Liberal Democrat politician, and biographer of British political leaders. The son of a Welsh trade unionist, Roy Jenkins was educated at Oxford University, elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in Harold Wilsons First Government. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1967–1970, he pursued a tight fiscal policy, on 8 July 1970, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but resigned in 1972 because he supported entry to the Common Market, while the party opposed it. In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Partys leftward swing under Michael Foot, in 1987, Jenkins was elected to succeed Harold Macmillan as Chancellor of the University of Oxford following the latters death, he held this position until his death. A few months after becoming Chancellor, Jenkins was defeated in his Hillhead constituency by the Labour candidate, Jenkins accepted a life peerage and sat as a Liberal Democrat. In the late 1990s, he was an adviser to Tony Blair, Roy Jenkins died in 2003, aged 82. In addition to his career, he was also a noted historian. His A Life at the Centre is regarded as one of the best autobiographies of the later 20th century, born in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, in south-eastern Wales, as an only child, Roy Jenkins was the son of a National Union of Mineworkers official, Arthur Jenkins. His father was imprisoned during the 1926 General Strike for his involvement in disturbances. Roy Jenkins mother, Hattie Harris, was the daughter of a steelworks manager and his university colleagues included Tony Crosland, Denis Healey, and Edward Heath, and he became friends with all three, although he was never particularly close to Healey. During the Second World War, Jenkins served with the Royal Artillery and then as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, reaching the rank of captain. Having failed to win Solihull in 1945, he was elected to the House of Commons in a 1948 by-election as the Member of Parliament for Southwark Central, becoming the Baby of the House. His constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the 1950 general election and he won the seat and represented the constituency until 1977. Like Healey and Crosland, he had been a friend of Hugh Gaitskell and for them Gaitskells death. After the 1964 general election Jenkins was appointed Minister of Aviation and was sworn of the Privy Council, while at Aviation he oversaw the high-profile cancellations of the BAC TSR-2 and Concorde projects. In January 1965 Patrick Gordon Walker resigned as Foreign Secretary and in the ensuing reshuffle Wilson offered Jenkins the Department for Education and Science and he declined it, preferring to stay at Aviation. In the summer of 1965 Jenkins eagerly accepted an offer to replace Frank Soskice as Home Secretary, however Wilson, dismayed by a sudden bout of press speculation about the potential move, delayed Jenkins appointment until December. Once Jenkins took office – the youngest Home Secretary since Churchill – he immediately set about reforming the operation and organisation of the Home Office, the Principal Private Secretary, Head of the Press and Publicity Department and Permanent Under-Secretary were all replaced

21.
Reginald Maudling
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Reginald Maudling was a British politician who held several Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader since 1955 and he also held directorships in several British financial firms. As Home Secretary, he was responsible for the British Governments Northern Ireland policy during the period that included Bloody Sunday in 1972, shortly thereafter, he left office due to an unrelated scandal in one of the companies of which he was director. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group, the family moved to Bexhill, to escape German air raids, he won scholarships to the Merchant Taylors School and Merton College, Oxford. He obtained his degree in Classics with first class honours, Maudling was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1940. However, he did not practise as a barrister, having volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force in World War II, in the subsequent Labour landslide Maudling was defeated like many others, although Heston and Isleworth had been expected to be a safe Conservative seat. After its defeat in the 1945 general election, the Conservative Party engaged in an extensive rethink of its policy, Maudling argued that the Party had depended excessively on the popularity of Winston Churchill and outdated economic slogans. In November 1945, Maudling became the first staff member of the Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat, later the Conservative Research Department and he persuaded the party to accept much of the Labour governments nationalisation programme and social services while cutting government spending. In March 1946, Maudling was chosen as the candidate for Barnet, close to his birthplace in Finchley. Labour had unexpectedly won the seat in 1945, but it was considered to be marginal, in 1950, Maudling was elected as Member of Parliament with an absolute majority. Following the 1951 election, Churchill made Maudling a junior Minister at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, with his mentor Rab Butler as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Maudling worked to reduce taxes and controls in order to move from post-war austerity to affluence. When Anthony Eden took over as Prime Minister in 1955, Maudling was promoted to head a department as Minister of Supply and he supported the invasion of Suez. Although supportive of Harold Macmillans appointment as Prime Minister over the claims of Butler in 1957. Macmillan appointed Maudling to the post of Paymaster General and spokesman in the House of Commons for the Ministry of Fuel and Power, however, Maudlings lack of international experience led him to underestimate the importance of the nascent Community and what was constructive in it. Faced with widespread rejection of the proposals, Maudling aroused hostility in Bonn, on 14 November 1958, six months after the election of General de Gaulle, Jacques Soustelle, the French Minister of Information, confirmed to the Press that France would reject the Maudling plan. Two days later, the British delegation to the Community formally called an end to accession negotiations, Maudling later revised his proposals which were to form the basis of the European Free Trade Association. Meanwhile, Maudling became a member of Lloyds of London in December 1957. Maudling entered the front line of politics after the 1959 election when appointed President of the Board of Trade and he was responsible for introducing the governments proposals to help areas of high unemployment

22.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore, the last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the audit, date from 1129–30 under King Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, the Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Philip Hammond and he is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can. The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits, the amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a personal power base in the party. One part of the Chancellors key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget, as of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a mini-Budget, britains tax year has retained the old Julian end of year,24 March /5 April. From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report, the Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997,2001,2002,2003,2006,2007,2008,2012 and 2016 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called external members. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a period in extreme circumstances. This power has never officially used. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a team of four junior ministers

23.
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal, the Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional role. The name for the position has a mixed history and it is used to designate the lead economic spokesman for the Opposition, although some Shadow Cabinets have not used the term. The term has been used interchangeably with economic spokesperson by the Liberal Democrats as well as the opposition party. The current position of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer is held by John McDonnell, lewis Baston Reggie, The Life of Reginald Maudling

24.
Hugh Gaitskell
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Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell, CBE, PC was a politician and Leader of the British Labour Party. With Labour in opposition from 1951, Gaitskell won bitter leadership battles with Bevan and his supporters to become the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in 1955. He opposed British military action at Suez in 1956, but against a backdrop of a booming economy led the Labour Party to another defeat in 1959. His revisionist views on the right of Labour were sometimes called Gaitskellism and he was loved and hated for his confrontational leadership and brutal frankness. He died suddenly in 1963, when he appeared to be on the verge of leading Labour back to power and he was known as “Sam” as a child. The Gaitskells had a family connection with the Indian Army. After his fathers death his mother remarried and returned to Burma. Gaitskell was educated at the Dragon School from 1912 to 1919 and he then attended Winchester College from 1919 to 1924. He attended New College, Oxford, from 1924 to 1927, studying under G. D. H. Cole, Gaitskell became a socialist and wrote a long essay on Chartism, arguing that the working class needed middle-class leadership. Gaitskells first political involvement came about as a result of the General Strike of 1926, most students supported the government and many volunteered for civil defence duties, or helped to run essential services. After the collapse of the General Strike, Gaitskell spent another six months raising funds for the miners and he graduated with a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1927. In 1927-28 Gaitskell lectured in economics for the Workers Educational Association to miners in Nottinghamshire and his essay on Chartism was published as a WEA booklet in 1928. This was his first experience of interaction with the working class, Gaitskell helped to run the New Fabian Research Bureau, set up by G. D. H. Cole in March 1931. He was selected as Labour candidate for Chatham in autumn 1932, Gaitskell moved to University College London in the early 1930s at the invitation of Noel Hall. In 1934 he joined the XYZ Club, a club for Labour financial experts, Dalton and Gaitskell were often referred to as “Big Hugh and Little Hugh” over the next fifteen years. In 1934 Gaitskell was in Vienna on a Rockefeller scholarship and this event made a lasting impression, making him profoundly hostile to conservatism but also making him reject as futile the Marxian outlook of many European social democrats. This placed him in the socialist revisionist camp, in the 1935 General Election, he stood unsuccessfully for election at Chatham. Gaitskell helped to draft “Labour’s Immediate Programme” in 1937 and this had a strong emphasis on planning, although not as much as his mentor Dalton would have liked, with no plans for the nationalisation of banks or the steel industry

25.
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
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He was a leader of the Labour Partys trade union right wing, and an effective election campaigner. Ultimately, however, he was unable to cope with the pressures of office without excessive drinking. Soon after the birth, his left and moved to the Peabody Trust block at Peabody Square, Blackfriars Road, Southwark. His father, also called George Brown, had worked as a packer, lorry driver. Brown had already adopted his parents left-wing views and later claimed to have delivered leaflets for the Labour Party in the 1922 general election when he was 8 years old. The school wanted Brown to stay on beyond the age of 15 and he started work as a junior clerk in the ledger department of a City firm, but was made redundant after pressing his fellow clerks to join a trade union. From 1932, he worked as a fur salesman for the John Lewis Partnership, Brown earned a great deal on commission. During this time, Brown continued his education through London County Council evening schools, the poverty of his upbringing led Brown in later life to resent those who had a more privileged background and a university education. By now Brown was active within the Labour Party and the Labour League of Youth and he ran as a moderate candidate for the Chairmanship but at the Labour Party conference in 1937 he was defeated by Ted Willis, a left-wing candidate later known as a television scriptwriter. At the 1939 Labour Party conference Brown made his mark by a speech demanding the expulsion of Stafford Cripps for his advocacy of a Popular Front. For the rest of his life, Cripps refused to speak to Brown, after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Brown volunteered for the RAF but Ernest Bevin, the minister of labour, kept Brown and other trade union officials in their civilian jobs. Bevin was one of the Labour leaders brought into the coalition government. Brown himself served as a civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture from 1940 onwards. As a TGWU official, Brown was a candidate to Labour constituencies seeking a candidate, as the TGWU would sponsor him. He was selected for Belper, a mixed constituency near Derby which was one of the top Labour target seats, in the 1945 general election Brown won the seat with a majority of nearly 9,000. He was invited as one of a dozen Young Victors to a dinner given by Hugh Dalton on 30 July 1945 who was talent-spotting and networking. Brown was immediately chosen to be a Parliamentary Private Secretary by George Isaacs, who had followed the promoted Bevin as Minister of Labour, Brown was both adept at understanding political issues and how to communicate them, and convivial and generally popular within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Brown launched a plot to have Clement Attlee replaced as Prime Minister by Ernest Bevin

26.
Clement Attlee
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Attlee was the first person to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, serving under Winston Churchill in the wartime coalition government. He went on to lead the Labour Party to an election victory in summer 1945. One of only a handful of Labour frontbenchers to retain his seat in the defeat of 1931. In 1935 he became the Leader of the Party, at first advocating pacificism and appeasement, he later reversed his position and by 1938 became a strong critic of Neville Chamberlains attempts to appease Adolf Hitler. He took Labour into the Churchill war ministry in 1940, initially serving as Lord Privy Seal, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in 1942. With victory in Europe in May 1945, the government was dissolved. Attlee led Labour to win a majority in the ensuing 1945 general election two months later. Within this context, his government undertook the nationalisation of public utilities and major industries, Attlee himself had little interest in economic matters but this settlement was broadly accepted by all parties for three decades. Foreign policy was the domain of Ernest Bevin, but Attlee took special interest in India. He supervised the process by which India was partitioned into India and he also arranged the independence of Burma, and Ceylon. His government ended the British Mandates of Palestine and Jordan, from 1947 he and Bevin pushed the United States to take a more vigorous role in the emerging Cold War against Soviet Communism. When the budgetary crisis forced Britain out of Greece in 1947 he called on Washington to counter the Communists with the Truman Doctrine and he avidly supported the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe with American money. In 1949, he promoted the NATO military alliance against the Soviet bloc and he sent British troops to fight in the Malayan Emergency in 1948 and sent the RAF to participate in the Berlin Airlift. He commissioned an independent nuclear deterrent for the UK and he used 13,000 troops and passed special legislation to promptly end the London dock strike in 1949. After leading Labour to a victory in the 1950 general election. Attlee was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives under Churchill in the 1951 general election and he continued as Labour leader but had lost his effectiveness by then. He retired after losing the 1955 general election and was elevated to the House of Lords, in public, Attlee was modest and unassuming, he was ineffective at public relations and lacked charisma. His strengths emerged behind the scenes, especially in committees where his depth of knowledge, quiet demeanour, objectivity and he saw himself as spokesman on behalf of his entire party and successfully kept its multiple factions in harness

27.
Cardiff South (UK Parliament constituency)
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Cardiff South was a borough constituency in Cardiff, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election. The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Grangetown, and South, General Election 1939/40, Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940

28.
Alun Michael
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Alun Edward Michael is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who is the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales, born on the island of Anglesey, Michael attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and graduated from the University of Keele in 1966 with a degree in Philosophy and English. He worked as a reporter for the South Wales Echo until 1971 and then as a youth and he became a Justice of the Peace in 1972 and served on the City of Cardiff Council from 1973 to 1989. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1987, succeeding former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan for the constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth. In opposition, he was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister and then when Labour came to power in 1997 he served as a Minister of State for Home Affairs until 1998. In October of that year, Ron Davies resigned as Secretary of State for Wales following a personal controversy and Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Michael to succeed him. In May 1999, following the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales, Michael defeated Rhodri Morgan to become the Leader of Welsh Labour and he resigned from the Welsh Assembly shortly after and served in various junior ministerial positions in the Labour government at Westminster. Michael was born at Bryngwran, Anglesey, the son of Leslie and he attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and studied at Keele University for four years from 1962 to 1966 obtaining a BA degree in Philosophy and English. He was a reporter for the South Wales Echo, a Cardiff-based evening newspaper, in his autobiography Michael Buerk wrote Alun Michael with his ginger toothbrush-moustache and battered corduroy jacket, was a rather Pooterish character for the Sixties. He did not stay in journalism, which was no surprise, but went into politics, Michael in fact left journalism in 1971 and spent 16 years until 1987 as a youth and community worker before entering Parliament. In 1972 he was appointed a justice of the peace, chairing the Cardiff Juvenile Bench and he was also a Cardiff City councillor from 1973 to 1989. He became an MP at the 1987 general election, inheriting a safe Labour seat from former Prime Minister James Callaghan, Michael retained this seat in 1992,1997,2001,2005 and 2010 although with declining majorities at each election from 1997 onwards. He also claimed that being an MP was not just a job and he is chair of the Christian Socialist Movement. Michael was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister while in opposition, prior to becoming a Minister of State in the Home Office following Labours landslide victory in the 1997 general election and his rhetoric when coming to office differed from the eventual delivery. As Home Office minister, he pledged there would be no hiding place for paedophiles as there would be cases where the public will have to be told directly that a paedophile is in their area, several frightening cases in recent months have hammered it home that we must act. He said warned of the dangers of having open access leading to paedophiles disappearing, Michael was however responsible for steering the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 through the House of Commons. Amongst other things, this Act introduced ASBOs or Anti-social Behaviour Orders and he was also responsible for the Government policy on the voluntary and community sector, and introduced the compact process to achieve partnership between Government and that sector. Michael later became a member of the Justice Select Committee from November 2007 to May 2010, while on the committee he took part in enquiries into restorative justice, devolution ten years on, the role of the prison officer, and the work of the Crown Prosecution Service

29.
Portsmouth
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Portsmouth is a port city in Hampshire, England, mainly on Portsea Island,70 miles south-west of London and 19 miles south-east of Southampton. It is the United Kingdoms only island city and has a population of 205,400, the city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Southampton and the towns of Havant, Waterlooville, Eastleigh, Fareham, and Gosport. The citys history can be traced to Roman times, a significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth has the worlds oldest dry dock and was Englands first line of defence during the French invasion in 1545. Special Palmerston Forts were built in 1859 in anticipation of invasion from continental Europe. The worlds first mass production line was set up in the city, during the Second World War, the city was a pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings and was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz, which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1982, the city housed the entirety of the forces in the Falklands War. Her Majestys Yacht Britannia left the city to oversee the transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, Portsmouth is one of the worlds best known ports. HMNB Portsmouth is the largest dockyard for the Royal Navy and is home to two-thirds of the UKs surface fleet, the city is home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Tudor carrack Mary Rose and Horatio Nelsons flagship, HMS Victory. The former HMS Vernon naval shore establishment has been redeveloped as a park known as Gunwharf Quays. Portsmouth is among the few British cities with two cathedrals, the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, the waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, one of the United Kingdoms tallest structures at 560 feet. Nearby Southsea is a resort with a pier amusement park. Portsmouth F. C. the citys football club, play their home games at Fratton Park. The city has several railway stations that connect to London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover, the city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport, until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the worlds best modern universities, Portsmouth is also the birthplace of author Charles Dickens and engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the third century. The citys Old English name Portesmuða is derived from port, meaning a haven, and muða and it was mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 501, Her cwom Port on Bretene 7 his. ii

30.
Ringmer
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Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located 3 miles east of Lewes, other small settlements in the parish include Upper Wellingham, Ashton Green, Broyle Side, Little Norlington and Shortgate. Ringmer is one of the largest villages in the south of England, there has been human habitation since at least Roman times. The village church, dedicated to St Mary, was built in the 13th century. One of its rectors, named to the living in 1533, was William Levett, named in the year as rector of Buxted. Ringmer has two schools, Ringmer Primary School for ages 4–11 and Ringmer Community College for students aged 11–18, Ringmer Community College houses the local swimming pool which is run by Wave Leisure. The symbol of Ringmer is a tortoise named Timothy, after the female tortoise that the naturalist Gilbert White carried back to Selborne in Hampshire in 1780, white’s aunt Rebecca Snooke lived in Delves House where Timothy had the run of the courtyard garden. Timothy died in 1794, a year after Gilbert White, Ringmer is part of the electoral ward called Ouse Valley and Ringmer. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 6,422, Ringmer Mill stood for centuries on Mill Plain overlooking Ringmer. This post mill was in operation until 1921 but collapsed in 1925 leaving the mill post, on which the body of the mill rotated, Plashett Park Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest partly in the parish. It is a site of importance as an area of ancient woodland. Plashett Wood and the adjolining Plashett Park Farm provide habitats for a variety of breeding birds and bats, plus a number of rarer invertebrates. Ringmer has a Non-League football club Ringmer F. C. who play at The Caburn ground, james Callaghan, British Prime Minister, and his wife Audrey Callaghan bought Upper Clayhill Farm, Ringmer, in 1967. H. Frederick Parris, cricketer and Test Match umpire William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, married Gulielma Springett, on 3 December 2006 the Festival Fireworks factory which is located in the parish, near Shortgate, caught fire detonating the display pyrotechnics stored on the site. Successive explosions then followed for more than eight hours, Sussex Police, which described it as a serious incident, established a 200 metres exclusion zone around the factory. Television pictures showed a fireball at the centre of the blaze. Two members of Sussex fire services died and nine fire service workers were injured along with two members of the public and a police officer, hundreds of rockets continued to explode more than five hours after the initial blasts. Media related to Ringmer at Wikimedia Commons

31.
East Sussex
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East Sussex /ˈsʌsᵻks/ is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent to the north and east, Surrey to the north west and West Sussex to the west, archaeological remains are plentiful, especially in the upland areas. The areas position on the coast has also meant that there were invaders, including the Romans. Earlier industries have included fishing, iron-making, and the trade, all of which have declined. Sussex is traditionally sub-divided into six rapes, from the 12th century the three eastern rapes together and the three western rapes together had separate quarter sessions, with the county town of the three eastern rapes being Lewes. This situation was formalised by Parliament in 1865, and the two parts were made into administrative counties, each with distinct elected county councils in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, in East Sussex there were also three self-administered county boroughs, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. In 1974 East Sussex was made a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county, at the same time the western boundary was altered, so that the Mid Sussex region was transferred to the county of West Sussex. In 1997, Brighton and Hove became a unitary authority, it was granted city status in 2000. East Sussex is divided into five local government districts, three are larger, rural, districts are, Lewes, Wealden, and Rother. Eastbourne and Hastings are mainly urban areas, the rural districts are further subdivided into civil parishes. To the north lie parallel valleys and ridges, the highest of which is the Weald itself, the sandstones and clays meet the sea at Hastings, the Downs, at Beachy Head. East Sussex, like most counties by the south coast, has an average total of around 1,750 hours of sunshine per year. This is much higher than the UKs average of about 1,340 hours of sunshine a year, the relief of the county reflects the geology. The chalk uplands of the South Downs occupies the coastal strip between Brighton and Eastbourne, there are two river gaps, the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere. The Seven Sisters, where the Downs meet the sea, are the remnants of dry valleys cut into the chalk, to the east of Beachy Head lie the marshlands of the Pevensey Levels, formerly flooded by the sea but now enclosed within a deposited beach. At Bexhill the land begins to rise again where the sands and clays of the Weald meet the sea, further east are the Pett Levels, more marshland, beyond which is the estuary of the River Rother. On the far side of the estuary are the dunes of Camber Sands, the highest point of the Downs within the county is Ditchling Beacon, at 814 feet, it is termed a Marilyn. The Weald occupies the northern borderlands of the county, between the Downs and Weald is a narrow stretch of lower lying land, many of the rivers and streams occupying this area originate in the Weald

Knight of the Order of the Garter
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The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry and the third most prestigious honour in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George and it is awarded at the Sovereigns pleasure as a personal gift on recipients from the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. Memb

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Most Noble Order of the Garter

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Representation of the garter on a Knight's mantle

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Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster (d.1361) (later Duke of Lancaster), the second recipient of the Order, shown wearing his garter robes in an illustration from the 1430 Bruges Garter Book made by William Bruges (1375–1450), first Garter King of Arms

4.
Statutes of the Order of the Garter

Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issu

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Queen Victoria convened her first Privy Council on the day of her accession in 1837.

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United Kingdom

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of

1.
Incumbent David Cameron since 11 May 2010

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Arms of Her Majesty's Government

3.
Late in the 17th century Treasury Ministers began to attend the Commons regularly. They were given a reserved place, called the Treasury Bench, to the Speaker's right where the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet members sit today

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Portrait of Sir Robert Walpole, studio of Jean-Baptiste van Loo, 1740. Walpole is considered to have been Britain's first Prime Minister.

Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the

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The Queen in March 2015

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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929

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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by Philip de László, 1933

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Elizabeth in Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945

Harold Wilson
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided w

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The Right Honourable The Lord Wilson of Rievaulx KG OBE PC FRS

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Harold Wilson in 1964.

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Harold and Mary Wilson with Richard and Pat Nixon at the White House in 1970.

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Wilson with West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard.

Margaret Thatcher
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She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her The Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics, as Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. A research chemist before becomi

Father of the House
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Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, the term Mother of the House or Mother of Parliament is also found, although the usage varies between countries. I

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Gerald Kaufman, current Father of the UK House of Commons

Bernard Braine
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Bernard Richard Braine, Baron Braine of Wheatley, PC was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament for over forty years, representing constituencies in Essex and he was educated at Hendon County Grammar School, and served with the North Staffordshire Regiment in the Second World War, rising to the rank of

1.
Sir Bernard Braine in 1983

Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)
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The Leader of Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in the United Kingdom. The current Leader of the Opposition is Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, the Leader of the Opposition is normally viewed as an alternative prime minister, and is appointed to the Privy Council. They lead an Official

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Incumbent Jeremy Corbyn since 12 September 2015

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Charles James Fox, Leader of Opposition 1783-1806

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"the opposition" Bonar Law as caricatured in Vanity Fair, April 1912

Michael Foot
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Michael Mackintosh Foot PC FRSL was a British Labour Party politician and man of letters. Foot began his career as a journalist, becoming editor of Tribune on several occasions, and he co-wrote the classic polemic against appeasement of Hitler, Guilty Men, under a pseudonym. Foot became a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and served again from

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Foot in 1981

Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
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The Leader of the Labour Party is the most senior politician within the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Since 12 September 2015, the office has held by Jeremy Corbyn. Harriet Harman was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and also Acting Leader since the resignation of Ed Miliband on 8 May 2015 following the 2015 general election, on 12 Septe

1.
Incumbent Jeremy Corbyn MP since 12 September 2015

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Keir Hardie (1856–1915)

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Arthur Henderson (1863–1935) (1st time)

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George Nicoll Barnes (1859–1940)

Alec Douglas-Home
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Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from 19 October 1963 to 16 October 1964. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as the UKs foreign secretary than on his brief premiership, in 1940, he was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and was im

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The Right Honourable The Lord Home of the Hirsel KT PC

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As a member of the Eton XI, 1921

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The Hirsel, the Douglas-Home family's principal residence

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Iain Macleod, who had a difficult relationship with Home

Anthony Crosland
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Charles Anthony Raven Crosland, otherwise Tony Crosland or C. A. R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author and he served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby. A prominent socialist intellectual, he one of the Labour Partys revisionists on the right. His highly influential book The Future

1.
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Denis Healey
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He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years and was the last surviving member of the cabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Partys victory in the 1964 general election. A major figure in the party, he was defeated in bids for the party leadership. To the public at large, Healey became well known for his bushy eyebrows, Denis Winston Healey

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Healey in 1974

Geoffrey Rippon
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Aubrey Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, QC was a British Conservative politician. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group and he was called to the Bar in 1948 and was Mayor of Surbiton 1951–52 and a member of the London County Council from 1952. After unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury in both

1.
Geoffrey Rippon (1970)

Barbara Castle
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She later became the Member of the European Parliament for Greater Manchester from 1979 to 1989. The youngest of three children, she was born in Chesterfield to Frank and Annie Betts, and was brought up in Pontefract, Castle was first introduced to socialist politics and beliefs from a young age, growing up in a politically active home. Her older s

Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone
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He was considered for the leadership of his party in 1963, and held for more than a decade the office formerly held by his father, that of Lord Chancellor. He became a Prize Fellow of All Souls in 1931, although originally he read classics, he won his prize fellowship in law and was called to the bar in 1932. He spoke in opposition to the motion Th

Shirley Williams
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Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, CH, PC is a British politician and academic who represents the Liberal Democrats. Originally a Labour Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, she was one of the Gang of Four rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981. Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of

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The Right Honourable The Baroness Williams of Crosby PC

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Sitting beside Peter Ustinov during an episode of the late-night TV discussion programme After Dark in 1989.

Home Secretary
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The office is a British Cabinet level position. The Home Secretary is responsible for the affairs of England and Wales. The remit of the Home Office also includes policing in England and Wales and matters of security, as the Security Service. The current Home Secretary is Amber Rudd, appointed formally by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her Pri

1.
Incumbent Theresa May since 12 May 2010

2.
Arms of Her Majesty's Government

3.
The Earl of Shelburne

4.
Thomas Townsend

Roy Jenkins
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Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC was a British Labour Party, SDP and Liberal Democrat politician, and biographer of British political leaders. The son of a Welsh trade unionist, Roy Jenkins was educated at Oxford University, elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in Harold Wilsons Fir

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Roy Jenkins in the Netherlands in 1977

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Roy Jenkins robed as Chancellor of Oxford University

3.
Jenkins' Grave

Reginald Maudling
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Reginald Maudling was a British politician who held several Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader since 1955 and he also held directorships in several British financial firms. As Home Secretary, he was responsible for the British Governments Northern Ireland policy during th

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The Right Honourable Reginald Maudling

Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasur

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Incumbent George Osborne since 12 May 2010

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Arms of Her Majesty's Government

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Budget box or Gladstone box, c. 1860

4.
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal, the Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional role. The name for the position has a mixed history and

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Incumbent John McDonnell since 13 September 2015

Hugh Gaitskell
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Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell, CBE, PC was a politician and Leader of the British Labour Party. With Labour in opposition from 1951, Gaitskell won bitter leadership battles with Bevan and his supporters to become the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in 1955. He opposed British military action at Suez in 1956, but against a backd

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Gaitskell in 1958

George Brown, Baron George-Brown
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He was a leader of the Labour Partys trade union right wing, and an effective election campaigner. Ultimately, however, he was unable to cope with the pressures of office without excessive drinking. Soon after the birth, his left and moved to the Peabody Trust block at Peabody Square, Blackfriars Road, Southwark. His father, also called George Brow

1.
The Right Honourable The Lord George-Brown PC

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George Brown with Harold Wilson in 1967 at The Hague

Clement Attlee
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Attlee was the first person to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, serving under Winston Churchill in the wartime coalition government. He went on to lead the Labour Party to an election victory in summer 1945. One of only a handful of Labour frontbenchers to retain his seat in the defeat of 1931. In 1935 he became the L

Cardiff South (UK Parliament constituency)
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Cardiff South was a borough constituency in Cardiff, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1950 general election. The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Grangetown, and South, General El

Alun Michael
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Alun Edward Michael is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who is the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales, born on the island of Anglesey, Michael attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and graduated from the University of Keele in

1.
The Right Honourable Alun Michael JP

Portsmouth
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Portsmouth is a port city in Hampshire, England, mainly on Portsea Island,70 miles south-west of London and 19 miles south-east of Southampton. It is the United Kingdoms only island city and has a population of 205,400, the city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Southampton and the towns of Havant, Waterlooville, Ea

4.
The Round Tower was built in 1418 to defend the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour

Ringmer
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Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located 3 miles east of Lewes, other small settlements in the parish include Upper Wellingham, Ashton Green, Broyle Side, Little Norlington and Shortgate. Ringmer is one of the largest villages in the south of England, there has been human habitation

1.
Ringmer

2.
The mushroom cloud from the fire at the factory

East Sussex
–
East Sussex /ˈsʌsᵻks/ is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent to the north and east, Surrey to the north west and West Sussex to the west, archaeological remains are plentiful, especially in the upland areas. The areas position on the coast has also meant that there were invaders, including the Romans. Earlier indu

3.
The Admiralty complex in 1794. The colours indicate departments or residences for the several Lords of the Admiralty. The pale coloured extension behind the small courtyard on the left is Admiralty House.

4.
Old Admiralty (Ripley Building) in 1760 before addition of the Adam screen

2.
A raised zebra crossing in a school zone in Marine Parade, Singapore

3.
These zig-zag lines indicate to United Kingdom motorists that they are approaching a pedestrian crossing. It is an offence to stop a vehicle within the lines except when stopping for pedestrians using the crossing.

4.
A zebra crossing in Abbey Road, London. This same crossing was featured on the cover of the album Abbey Road by The Beatles